“Never mind, old boy,” said Ned, patting the glossy muzzle of his faithful comrade.  “This is no time for feasting and banqueting.  We are hunting Mexicans, you and I, and after that business is over we may consider our pleasures.”

They remained several hours among the trees.  They saw the last red glow that the sun leaves in the west die away.  They saw the full darkness descend over the earth, and then the stars come trooping out.  After that they saw a scarlet flush under the horizon which was not a part of the night and its progress.  The Panther noted it, and his great face darkened.  He turned to Ned.

“You see it, don’t you?  Now tell me what it is.”

“That light, I should say, comes from the fires of an army.  And it can be no other army than that of Cos.”

“Right again, ain’t he, Obed?”

“He surely is.  Cos and his men are there.  He who breaks his faith when he steals away will have to fight another day.  How far off would you say that light is, Panther?”

“‘Bout two miles, an’ in an hour or so we’ll ride fur it.  The night will darken up more then, an’ it will give us a better chance for lookin’ an listenin’.  I’ll be mightily fooled if we don’t find out a lot that’s worth knowin’.”

True to Obed’s prediction, the night deepened somewhat within the hour.  Many of the stars were hidden by floating wisps of cloud, and objects could not be seen far on the dusky surface of the plain.  But the increased darkness only made the scarlet glow in the south deepen.  It seemed, too, to spread far to right and left.

“That’s a big force,” said the Panther.  “It’ll take a lot of fires to make a blaze like that.”

“I’m agreeing with you,” said Obed.  “I’m thinking that those are the camp fires of more men than Cos took from San Antonio with him.”

“Which would mean,” said Ned, “that another Mexican army had come north to join him.”

“Anyhow, we’ll soon see,” said the Panther.

They mounted their horses and rode cautiously toward the light.

CHAPTER V

SANTA ANNA’S ADVANCE

The three rode abreast, Ned in the center.  The boy was on terms of perfect equality with Obed and the Panther.  They treated him as a man among men, and respected his character, rather grave for one so young, and always keen to learn.

The land rolled away in swells as usual throughout a great part of Texas, but they were not of much elevation and the red glow in the south was always in sight, deepening fast as they advanced.  They stopped at last on a little elevation within the shadow of some myrtle oaks, and saw the fires spread before them only four or five hundred yards away, and along a line of at least two miles.  They heard the confused murmur of many men.  The dark outlines of cannon were seen against the firelight, and now and then the musical note of a mandolin or guitar came to them.